Batsman and fast bowler who were reportedly seen drinking at an Adelaide
nightclub until 3.30am on Sunday did not breach team protocol, an ECB
spokeswoman has said

The England and Wales Cricket Board have endorsed Kevin Pietersen and Stuart Broad’s late-night trip to an Adelaide bar on Sunday.

A report in Adelaide’s newspaper The Advertiser claimed the two England players were in the Zhivago nightclub in the city centre until around 3.30am on Sunday.

The England squad were given a day off on Monday before resuming preparations for Thursday’s second Test on Tuesday morning.

The report carried pictures of the two players taken by other people at the nightclub. It said the players, both of whom have been targeted for abuse by Australian cricket fans, were flanked by security and stood by the bar for most of the night.

“They were getting stuck in but [were] by no means messy,” another drinker told The Advertiser.

When asked about the players’ late night out, an England spokeswoman made it clear Broad and Pietersen had not broken any curfew rules.

“They are free to do as they please – they are grown men,” she said. “There has been no breach of team protocol.”

Broad and Pietersen were among four Test regulars rested for the two-day match against a Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI in Alice Springs, which finished on Saturday.

They embarked on their night out after arriving in Adelaide from Australia’s Red Centre, where their flight south was delayed by three-and-a-half hours.

Australian opener David Warner was banned by Cricket Australia for part of last summer’s Ashes tour of England for aiming a punch at Joe Root in a Birmingham bar. Described by the ECB as an “unprovoked attack”, Warner’s aggression was apparently triggered by the Australian batsman taking exception to Root wearing a fake beard.